Military Museum Does Not Want Saddam’s Toilet

Saddam Hussein’s prison cell toilet has been packed up by the departing U.S. military along with other artifacts of the Iraqi war, but the museum that was expected to receive the commode has decided it does not want the memento.

The U.S. Army Military Police Museum at Ft. Wood in Missouri will accept Saddam’s heavy cell door, steel signs from the Victory Base Complex, the largest U.S. Military base in Iraq, and some official documents .

The door weighs 500 pounds and was the entrance to the cell where Saddam was kept for two years before his execution in 2006. Saddam’s cell, cell door – and toilet – were hidden within a dilapidated villa on the base and guarded by military personnel.

Lt. Col. Jerry Brooks told Reuters on a tour of the site on Monday that the dictator’s stainless steel commode was packed up for the museum along with the door and other items.

But Tiffany Wood, the deputy public affairs officer at Ft. Wood, said the museum will not be taking ownership of Saddam’s toilet. She did not say why.

“We don’t have a reason, really when it comes down to it. We’re going to display the artifacts that we’re receiving,” Wood said.

The display of artifacts from Saddam’s incarceration will be displayed at the museum,which receives about 100,000 visitors a year.

”It’s another way to tell the story of what our soldiers are doing,” Wood said. ”It shows the significant part of history that they are doing.”

Wood says that the artifacts are a natural fit for the museum, since Fort Leonard Wood is where all military police soldiers are trained. “It just helps explain what their role was and [what it] is for the future,” said Wood.